During a week when Chicago was hit hard by rains and flooding, The Brit braved the elements and headed up to the northern suburb of Mundelein, and sat down with owner and brewer, Bruce Dir for a beer and a chat. Tighthead Brewing is one of those breweries who has been open since 2011 and therefore qualifies as well-established and solid. We first visited Tighthead after they had been open for about a year, and technical difficulties resulted in a somewhat one-sided stereo recording! This time round, we made sure the recording turned out a little better! We taste some of their brews while we chat, and we talk about how the brewery has matured and settled over the years, and also consider beer styles and pubs. It’s just like sitting down for a beer with a friend – thanks Bruce!

This week we pull out a number of brews collected from across several states, ones which which we think could be everyday, very drinkable beers. We visit Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, and of course we had to include one from Illinois. Joining Phil this week is Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street Brewing, who now seems to have taken over the reins from Mark as our resident smarty-pants and BJCP judge! John Kaworksi from John’s Tavern comes by for our last 2 brews.

Father’s Day weekend saw the official opening of Flesk Brewing in their new location in the Icebox Mall in Barrington, IL. Last year, the O’Brien brothers, Will and James, took a hiatus from brewing in their original location in Lombard after 3 years, and decided to reinvent their brewery with an expanded space, and a taproom only approach.

Phil catches up with the lads and we chat about their challenges of the move, their history, and their current brews. As a celebration of their new opening, I bring a bottle of their 2015 3rd Anniversary Grand Cru and we check how it has changed from the original bottling.

Enter from the Mall

Will O’Brien

James O’Brien

Tap Room and Sean O’Brien

New Mash Tun and Boil Kettle

Current Rotation

Handmade Bar top by Peter O’Brien

Tap Room Punters

Grand Cru 3rd Anniversary

The old freezer!

And just to make sure these guys know their beer, we also sample a bottle of barrel-aged beer from Louisville’s Against The Grain Brewery called Jackyale, ​ a double brown ale aged in bourbon barrels in honor of the greatest rock and roll band on this or any other time, Jackyl. ABV 9.5%, 35 IBU.

This is another show-n-tell edition, and this time Mark brings to the pub some bottles (and one can), that he collected during his recent road-trip. We are headed to Florida and Utah in this show and trying some higher ABV brews. Joining Mark and Phil this week is Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street Brewing in Itasca, and tavern owner John Karwoski from John’s Tavern in Winfield.
This will be Mark’s last regular show as he is heading up to the northwest, and Boise Idaho, where he will passing on his brewing expertise to the growing craft beer industry there.

We stay in Florida for our next beer, from NOBO Brewing, in N Boynton Beach. We have a crowler of their ​Coconut Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout, 12% ABV.
And our final brew is a more traditional double IPA from Squatter’s Brewing in Salt Lake City, UT. These folks have been around since 1989, so are the oldest of our trio of breweries. We sample their Hop Rising DIPA, 9% ABV.